Deirdre Whelan is enjoying the season of her life at Kilternan. In May she recorded the first hole-in-one of the year on the course and she had seen her handicap drop from 36 to 28 by the end of June.

However it was her performance in the July Medal that really got the locals talking as she brought in 57 nett, 11 under par. "I normally hate strokes but I was totally relaxed because I had already won a Medal and couldn't win again,' said Whelan, who has been cut to 24. That drop of 12 shots has been matched over the last two years by former under-21 hockey international Hazel Roy of Woodenbridge. An Achilles tendon injury curtailed her hockey exploits so she turned to golf and hit the heights last week with a marvellous 49 stableford points. She's now down to an 18 handicap.